[Talk-ca] Formatting of Municipality Names

[OSM Volunteer stevea]

On Feb 16, 2018, at 7:50 PM, Bill & Kathy Patterson <bill_patterson at tricolour.queensu.ca> wrote:
> It would seem to me that an official place name should take precedence over OSM protocols.  If we expand the abbreviations (or contractions), of St. and Ste., then are we not altering the official place name of the feature?
> 
> The federal government downloaded that responsibility to the provinces, and in Ontario the official place names appear at
> http://www.gisapplication.lrc.gov.on.ca/Geonames/Index.html?site=Geographic_Names&viewer=Geonames&locale=en-US

Bill, as I look at "Sault Ste. Marie" in Ontario in that database and compare it to the "Sault Ste Marie" across the water in Michigan (land of my birth, but not in the realm of this database's naming) I note something interesting:  the Canadian version has a period, denoting an abbreviation (we do use English, though the rule that a period is found at the end of an abbreviation in French is the same),  The Michigan one does not end in a period.  Were I to edit here, I would "follow what our OSM wiki says to put in OSM" expanding that abbreviation ("Ste." to "Sainte" in the Ontario version).  Some (many? most?)  "Sainte-Quelque Chose" names have hyphens, too.  So, hm.

That would be my approach, as it is OSM's approach.  This is OSM, yet it is Canada, too, of course.  It's not always easy or clear, is it?

SteveA